


far from the shore

by problematiquefave



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Christmas, M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-15
Updated: 2018-12-15
Packaged: 2019-09-18 18:01:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16999935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/problematiquefave/pseuds/problematiquefave
Summary: A search for a mystery magical item in Iceland gets Scott and Isaac into trouble.





	far from the shore

“Did you think you’d ever be spending Christmas in Iceland?”

Scott glances away from the blue waters ahead of them and back at Isaac. He shakes his head. “Can’t say I thought much about Iceland. _Ever_.”

“Who does?” he replies with a grin. Scott bites his lip as he turns away.

Some people have itchy feet – a desire to travel, to get as far away from _home_ as humanly possible. Isaac is one of those people. He swears he’ll never set foot in Beacon Hills again though it’s not like he stayed in France for long either. Greece, Romania, Russia, _Tunisia_. He’s been more places in the past five years than most people go in all their lives. But Scott isn’t like that. He doesn’t mind a vacation now and then but he’s content to stay within North America. Yet… Here he is.

This isn’t a vacation – if it were, he certainly wouldn’t have gone to some place so cold or dark. He’d be in Mexico or the Bahamas, sipping fruity drinks on a sunny beach. He wouldn’t be on a boat trying to navigate a glacier-strewn sea. No, he’s doing that because of Monroe – because there’s something here, something magical, that she and her hunters want. Someone has to prevent that.

Usually the task would fall on Chris, Deaton, Derek, or even Jackson. They had the ability and money to travel. Isaac generally liked to be uninvolved; he’d report rumors from wherever he went but he stayed off the front lines. Yet all four of the usual suspects had been busy and Scott had been the one the responsibility fell on. Isaac is here out of pity.

(That’s what he says, at least. Scott has to consciously ignore the chemosignals radiating off of him as they tell an entirely different story. Though he hasn’t minded. It’s been too long and, within an hour of reuniting, it had been just like it used to be. Smiles and feather-light touches. _Almost but not quite_.)

“Are we there yet?” Isaac whines, snapping Scott out of his reverie.

“I don’t know,” he admits. Honestly, he’s not sure what he’s looking for. There’s a vague description that reads more like a riddle than it does a roadmap. He’s not sure if he’s looking for a peal or a sea beast. He just knows that Monroe is also looking for it and that can’t be good.

“Then no offence but… Why are we still out here? Can’t we go back to dry land and get some hot chocolate? Try on a day that isn’t a huge holiday?”

Scott can only hold out for so long before he sighs in exasperation. “Are you getting sea sick?”

“No. But it’s _Christmas_ and I’m on a boat in the middle of nowhere and certain dangly parts of me are getting very—“

Before Isaac can finish that undoubtedly crude comment, something slams against the bottom of the boat. It knocks them both off their feet though they manage to remain within the boat, clinging to the railing as they catch their breaths. Adrenaline rushes through his veins; Scott wryly thinks that that ought to warm his companion up. That thought is quickly chased away when the boat is hit again.

So they’re definitely after a sea monster.

An unfriendly one at that.

“I think we found it,” Scott calls over the sloshing water. He receives a glare in return. He’s sure he’d get a snarky remark if it weren’t for the violent rocking of the boat and the looming threat that they’re about to end up in the freezing water.

Scott digs his claws into the side of the boat, his eyes glowing bright red as he pulls his torso over the side and peers into the murky water. His stomach twists and turns, threating revolt, but he tries to ignore it – tries to search for what’s attacking them instead. _Try_ is the operative word. He doesn’t spot it in the depths but then Isaac yells from behind him and Scott sees it. The image lasts for a split second before it drags Isaac into the water and below the surface.

He shouts, stumbling to the edge, but there’s only rippling water left behind. He swears inside his head. This is the absolute last thing he wanted or needed. Oh God. What does he do? Only one thing comes to mind and, despite the shudder that runs down his spine at the mere idea, he knows he has to. He has to jump in.

He shucks off shirt because… Well, that’s what they do in the movies. He takes a deep breath and then he dives. The freezing water hits him like a bolt of lightning but he grits his teeth and keeps swimming. There’s zero visibility and the only thing he knows is panic. He pushes through, swimming and swimming until his lungs scream for oxygen. Until he lets out silent sob, a stream of bubbles rising up around him. As soon as he does that, arms wrap around him. What the…?

Before he can even finish the thought, darkness overwhelms him.

 

 

The sun is bright when he opens his eyes. While that’s the first thing he notices, it’s quickly followed by the fire in his lungs. He turns over and coughs up a stream of water that burns his throats. He shuts his eyes as he sucks in a shaky breath then opens them again, glancing around. His gaze lands on a prone lump nearby. _Isaac_.

Crawling forward, he reaches out and touches his face. Blue eyes blink open at him, confusion evident. “Easy,” Scott says as Isaac tries to sit up, his hands and gaze never leaving the beta. Isaac reaches out to touch his cheek. He leans forward, their foreheads brushing together as Scott breathes a sigh of relief. He’s okay. He’s _alive_. “I thought…” He bites his lips, refusing to put those awful worries to words. Isaac pulls back to press a kiss to his forehead.

“Scott,” he murmurs as they pull apart. It’s not meant to be reassuring. His eyes are trained on something in front of them. Scott follows his gaze, his breath hitching when he spots it too.

There’s something abstractly human about it but it’s very much not. A mermaid? Except it’s nothing like the ones in movies and stories. This isn’t Ariel; it’s a creature out of someone’s nightmare. It stares back them with black eyes and white, cat-like pupils. When it gets Scott’s attention, its lips pull back to reveal rows of razor sharp teeth. He’s not sure if it’s a threat or a smile.

“Were you..? Did you knock us into the water?” he asks, realizing as the words spill out of his mouth that the creature probably doesn’t speak English.

Yet it answers in a raspy, chilling voice. “Saved… You…” It nods its head. “Saved… Alpha and… Alpha’s mate…”

“Thank you,” he says, ignoring how the creature refers to Isaac. Now’s not the time to quibble or contemplate that. “What… What are you?”

“Friend,” the creature replies. Scott opens his mouth to question it again but it raises a clawed, webbed hand. “Need to… Go. Tomorrow… After… Dark…”

And it does just that, slipping back into the frothy waves. It doesn’t even leave a ripple behind. Scott stares after it, their surroundings and the memories of what just happened fighting for dominance inside his head. Eventually, all he can do is laugh. A laugh that doubles when Isaac asks in a trembling voice, “Can we got some hot chocolate _now?_ ”

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Picture-Prompt-Fun's Advent Calendar Challenge](https://picture-prompt-fun.dreamwidth.org/). Day 15 was [this image](https://picturepromptfun-mod.dreamwidth.org/file/104160.jpg). According to some quick Google-fu, this image was taken at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon thus the Icelandic setting. 
> 
> You can find me on [Tumblr](https://problematiquefics.tumblr.com/) and [Dream Width](https://problematiquefave.dreamwidth.org/).


End file.
